from bad to good, in about 3 hours

it's funny what a little dim sum will do to change one's outlook for the better.

okay, so after giving up on obtaining a presale password from the damn jonas brothers fan club site for their summer concert, i packed up the bean and off we went to house of louie for lunch with MIL and the hub's gram. we got there at the same time, got seated, and i got right to work ordering from the passing carts. gram was quite overwhelmed and had no idea what to do with the delightful steam tins that were set down in front of her. MIL, ever the patient one, explained everything to her as i started grubbing down like i hadn't eaten in a week. heh.

we had a great time, munching and chatting, while the bean smiled, squealed, and charmed every server that walked by. i, of course, have no pictures as i wouldn't have been able to explain them, but trust me - it was delish. the hardest part was holding back from ordering the way i normally do - "two of that, ooh, ooh! two of those, too, please."

after losing the battle for the check, the bean and i went to nordstrom in search of some sort of gift for the hub. he's off on a one-night business trip to vegas tomorrow, so i figured maybe i could find him a cool shirt or something. and i was pleasantly surprised to find that there were actually too many for me to pick from - it's such a crapshoot, and usually more "miss" than "hit" when it comes to shopping for the hub. i picked up this lovely tommy bahama shirt:

minus the dude in it, of course. hee! the salesgirl boxed it all up nice and pretty for me, and then i was off to trader joe's to pick up the makings for birthday dinner. the hub wanted their hawaiian-style maui beef boneless ribs, which i'd discovered last week, which is ridiculously easy to cook. add a little rice and some steamed veggies on the side, and voila!

i'd had the kid sign a blank card yesterday, too, so all i need to do now is decorate it with some manly embellishments (ha!), write something sappy and happy in it, and i'm all set. phew. what a relief.

AND i came home, checked the stupid fan site again, and finally got the presale code. the tickets i ended up with aren't the greatest (i kept the monkey's hint about holding off on presales in mind, but figured i could always sell these later on as the jonas brothers tickets seem to sell like hotcakes), but again, they're seats vs. lawn. at the very same venue as wango tango, even. yay - the kid'll be thrilled.

i'm tired.